Watching (R) Senator Pat Roberts and others manipulate the investigations into false pre war intelligence to run out the clock of accountability was disgusting. The Silverman Robb investigation was weak, Phase I of the SSCI..no accountability, Phase II incomplete until just recently

To think that those who participated in creating, cherry picking, disseminating and endlessly repeating the false WMD intelligence to the American public will not be held accountable is a slap in the face, kick in the gut for those who served and died in the unnecessary war based on a pack of lies.

By not holding those responsible for knowingly using these lies ( Feith, Wurmser, Rhode,Condi Rice, Ledeen, Hadley, Cheney, Bush etc) is like rubbing the faces of American and Iraq family members in the blood and bones of those who have unnecessarily died.

If Obama and our congress think they can “move forward” without holding these thugs accountable they are sorely mistaken. The peasants are talking about the lack of accountability. The very least that the Congress now controlled by Democrats can do for those who have lost their lives, been injured for life in this bloody immoral war is hold those responsible ACCOUNTABLE.

We know what it took to get the Republicans Justice juices flowing in the 90’s.

In other words Cheney’s justifications are inherently unreasonable as principle, devoid of any consideration of human potential, and short sighted. Constitutional democracy under the rule of law and the emergence of international law attempt to institutionalize the deep wisdom of having principle founded in deep historic experience time-bound to the present. The consequences of allowing Cheney’s methods to stand untested by principle will be a degeneration into unnecessary human primitivism at great cost to the equities of civilization. The manner in which Cheney cloaks his violence in administrative banality certainly deserves study.

The social contract provides benefits for the surrendering of violent action to the state. If the state looses into gratuitous violence way we all suffer. In the end its really a matter of insight and choice rather than human nature.

We really do not know what privations looks like in an emergent technosphere. Obama’s gamble toward informed choice is hopeful. What is the exposure of taking the risk that perhaps the emergent historic synthesis is sufficient in and of itself to minimize Cheney’s personal drama. Certainly some kind of popular social judgment of Cheney has been rendered.

Prosperous societies don’t allow flagrant anti-social conduct, and they have ways of administering justice for the good of the group.

Nature is red in tooth and claw in some respects.
But the amount of metabolic energy expended to raise, protect, nurture, feed, and house the offspring — and then train them or raise them — is far greater. Violence is a short term solution that produces long term destruction; over time, positive, nurturing behaviors have much more power.

So there’s the upside.

Cheney is beyond comprehension and it’s unfathomable to me that these are the kinds of people that manage to rise to the top in our system.

I don’t necessarily agree with all of your statements, but confess myself one of the people who finds Cheney unfathomable.

In the past, the notion of a Darwinian struggle was the dominant paradigm; the most brutal, unethical win.

But that seems to be undergoing revision and reconsideration; it is beginning to appear that is a good SHORT TERM solution, and one that appeals to people unable to articulate and implement a larger, socially healthy, larger vision. This is because there’s been more research, and also we are now experiencing longer life spans. It’s taken years in my own case to really see the truth that ‘what goes around, comes around’. In my 20s, I didn’t believe it. And sometimes, it takes 20 or more years.

Bush and Cheney hold very dark views of the world; so does Bin Laden. And we see what results. Bush is a Cautionary Tale, and the only one that I’ve seen escape the corrosive effects of being near that man is Scott McClellan.

But there are others who are equally active in the world, in ways that are less exciting, less ‘visual’, less obvious. No matter what one thinks of Jimmy Carter, note how much the Bushies detest him, and also note his efforts for years on behalf of the Palestinians and the poor around the world.

Note that Sen Chuck Hagel, who parted company with Cheney and Bush years ago, is about the only widely respected GOP Senator left, and he actively supported Obama.

People of conscience survive when they work together and support one another’s efforts and don’t need to grab the limelight. Onward.